Should Dolphins consider taking Percy Harvin at No. 25?

Florida wide receiver Percy Harvin was arguably the most exciting player in college football this past season, and most mock drafts have him going somewhere late in the first round of the NFL draft. That begs a question: If he’s there at No. 25, should the Dolphins take him?

Asked Scott Wright of draftcountdown.com about Harvin and he confirmed what people who follow the Gators already might suspect: The reason Harvin isn’t going higher is his injury history and the questions being raised about his durability.
“If he didn’t have durability concerns he’d be a top-10 pick for sure,” Wright said. “But of course, the way Florida has used him has opened him up for more hits as well.”

ESPN’s Mel Kiper described Harvin as a “Reggie Bush type” but Wright said he’s actually the opposite.

“Bush is a running back-turned-receiver, while Harvin is a receiver-turned-running back,” he said. And while Bush is much bigger and stronger, look at how much he’s struggled to remain healthy in his brief career.

Wright figures Harvin could easily go in the top 20, particularly to a team like Chicago, which needs a gamebreaker and receiving threat after the Devin Hester experiment fell short of expectations last year. All it takes is for one offensive coordinator to convince his GM that, as Wright put it, “this guy is a threat to score every time he touches the ball.”

The argument against Harvin, of course, is that Miami needs not just a big-play guy but a big wide receiver, somebody like a Michael Crabtree who can go over the middle, take a hit and make a play.

Wright’s solution: Take a linebacker like a Clay Matthews of USC at No. 25 and get a receiver like Hakeem Nicks of North Carolina or Rutgers’ Kenny Britt with the first pick of the second round. “Some of the top wide receivers fell last year, and if that happens again, there should be a pretty good selection when Miami picks at No. 44,” Wright said.